Category: Immigration fraud

Dallas is ground zero for largest Medicare/Medicaid fraud ring yet uncovered—Nigerians this time

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Last week we had the largest Medicaid fraud bust in DC history and as it turns out earlier in February we were given more details on the massive 2012 Texas bust as that case heads to trial.  In the DC case, the ringleader was a woman from Cameroon, and in Texas, 1/3 of the cases involve Nigerians.

Where is David Lubell and “Welcoming America” with his immigrant-entrepreneurs-bring-economic-boom-times to your “welcoming” cities mumbo-jumbo.  (‘Welcoming America’ is partially funded by the Office of Refugee Resettlement to get your minds right about the joy immigrant diversity will bring to your town and a large part of their campaign is to convince you that hard-working immigrants are fueling the local economy.)

Readers, increasingly we see home health care businesses listed as one of those economic enterprises refugees and other immigrants bring to multi-culti cities.  (Somalis here in St. Cloud!) Now we see why!

Keep in mind, as you read this, that we don’t resettle refugees from Nigeria in any large numbers, there may be some among the asylum seekers, but I would guess the largest numbers are here because they overstayed a visa—student or tourist.  Also, know that Nigerians were “winning” the diversity visa lottery in such large numbers that they are barred in the upcoming cycles from that LEGAL immigrant pipeline to America.

Dr. Joseph Megwa’s attorney asked that his nationality and immigration status not be admitted to the court! Photo: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2213046/Medicare-fraud-bust-Justice-department-arrests-91-doctors-nurses-430MILLION-largest-case-kind.html

From Dallas News.  (Hat tip: the ever-vigilant ‘pungentpeppers’)  Emphasis is mine:

Hundreds of North Texas Nigerian-Americans are caught up in the biggest home health care frauds ever uncovered by U.S. law enforcement.

Federal indictments were issued in 2012 against those who allegedly profited the most from half a billion dollars in fraudulent local Medicare billings. But many other Nigerian-Americans living in the area and operating small health care businesses were also involved, federal law enforcement officials say.

Those officials say most of the health care fraud in Texas is committed by Texans with no particular ethnic background. And community leaders insist most Nigerian-Americans in the health care business in the Dallas area are honest.

But law enforcement officials and leaders in the Nigerian-American community describe Dallas home health care fraud as rampant and say a surprising number of the perpetrators — a third of all cases under investigation — involve Nigerian-Americans.

Greed and lax enforcement!  And, possibly a cultural predilection?

“It is embarrassing to the Nigerian community that this type of thing is going on,” said Ihekwaba, who is also president of the West Africa America Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Dallas.

“It’s greed. Greed and trying to see the easy way out,” he said. “People took advantage of lax enforcement by the federal government on this issue.”

The FBI says health care fraud is the costliest crime in America. Estimates of the losses to federal health insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid run from $44 billion to $80 billion a year.

Dallas has some of the highest Medicare spending in the nation. While the amounts spent on hospitals, drugs and doctors are not far off the national averages, home health care spending is far above the norm.

Over $100 million in fraud allegedly funneled through Dr. Joseph Megwa.

Between 2006 and 2012, federal law enforcement authorities allege more than 230 Dallas-area home health care agencies funneled patients to Arlington physician Joseph Megwa to approve $100.5 million in care they didn’t need. The owner of the largest home care agency in the case, Nigerian-American Ferguson Ikhile of Irving, has pleaded guilty.

But, LOL! Don’t mention Megwa’s nationality or immigration status because of backlash against immigrants!  If the shoe fits!

Last month, Megwa’s attorneys asked the judge in the case to prohibit prosecutors from mentioning Megwa’s nationality or immigration status because of “a backlash in this country against immigrants, particularly immigrants of color and immigrants from Africa, who are charged with criminal offenses.”

Nothing makes Americans angrier than opening our doors to immigrants who then turn around and rip us off!  As a matter of fact, we think there should be a law that when an immigrant crook is indicted, their immigration status should be made available to the public, so if they are here legally, we can begin to identify which legal programs need to be tightened up.

The next time one of your pals says, ‘I’m opposed to illegal aliens, but I’m o.k. with LEGAL immigrants,’ know that they don’t know what they are talking about!

The article at Dallas News is a long one with lots of details about how the scam is done, so I recommend reading the whole thing.

Arizona: Iraqi refugee sentenced in bombing of Social Security Office

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is an update of a story we first reported in 2012.  Our two previous posts on Aldosary are here.

One more expensive legal proceeding for local and federal tax payers.

Abdullatif Ali Aldosary. “The court believes the defendant presents an extreme danger to the community.”

From the Coolidge Examiner.   Hat tip: Robin

A Coolidge man awaiting prosecution in state court for murder and attempted murder, among other charges, was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison stemming from his Sept. 20 conviction of being a felon in possession of firearms and of ammunition.

Abdullatif Ali Aldosary, 48, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton on Monday morning in Phoenix. The judge combined his sentences, pointing out that he faced up to 10 years in prison on the three counts. Aldosary has 14 days to appeal his federal sentence.

Additionally, Aldosary was fined $7,500 and ordered to pay a $100 court fee. He was sentenced to three years supervised probation after he’s released from federal prison, ordered to participate in a mental health program and to have no contact with any employees of the Casa Grande Social Security office.

“The court believes the defendant presents an extreme danger to the community,” Bolton said during the sentencing hearing.

Aldosary is accused of setting off a homemade bomb at the Casa Grande Social Security office on Nov. 30, 2012. His federal court convictions stem from materials police found at his home after they arrested him the day of the bombing. Besides ammunition, they found paperwork related to how to make a bomb and other materials that could be used in a bomb. Because of a 2008 conviction in Maricopa County for aggravated harassment, a felony, Aldosary is not allowed to possess weapons or ammunition.

So much for that refugee security screening process we are always hearing about.  And, so why didn’t we just deport the violent man when his green card was first denied?

Aldosary came to the United States legally in 1997 from Iraq. In 2008 his request for a green card was denied because in 1991 he fought with anti-government forces trying to overthrow former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. He sought a green card a second time, which has not been granted.

There is more, read it all.

Israeli program to pay ‘asylum seekers’ to leave is working!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, the success so far confirms what the Israeli government has been saying all along—the majority of so-called ‘asylum seekers’ are economic migrants who do not have a legitimate claim of asylum, or they would be making it!

African protesters at US Embassy in Tel Aviv in January demanding to be allowed to stay in Israel.
https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/01/07/waiting-for-the-unhcr-to-blast-saudi-arabia-as-they-did-israel-yesterday/

From Haaretz:

A record 1,705 African asylum seekers left Israel in February, Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced Thursday. He also predicted that the wave of departures would continue in the coming months.

“This figure for the last month surprises me for the better,” Sa’ar said at a conference of Population and Immigration Authority directors in Ashkelon. “If the trend we identify continues, and I’ve been informed that it will continue into March, there will be a departure of enormous proportions from Israel this year. It is most important.”

February’s figure represents about 3% of the estimated number of African asylum seekers in Israel. The monthly figures have grown since November, from 63 to 325 in December and 765 in January.

“We stood up to constant propaganda insinuating there were tens of thousands of asylum seekers, even though you know that a tiny percentage of them submitted asylum requests,” said Sa’ar. “This whole theory collapsed in the last months when it turned out there was a large exodus of those who came for economic reasons and figured that in a day or two he would no longer be able to work and earn money, so we see a definitive change in direction.”

Sa’ar showed the statistics on a placard headlined “Voluntary departure data – illegal infiltrators” to make his point. Each African asylum seeker who leaves Israel through the end of next month is entitled to a $3,500 government grant.

Maybe we could try this in America!  The only difference is that the Israelis now have an almost impenetrable border fence, so more are not on the way.

Back to Haaretz:

There was a recent flurry of criticism when it was learned that some of the migrants chose to go to Uganda rather than to their home country.  But, leave it to a US refugee resettlement contractor, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to stick its nose into Israel’s business (see our previous post here).

It remains unclear what, if any, agreement was made with Uganda. The Jewish-American Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society contacted the director of refugee affairs in the Ugandan prime minister’s office, and he responded that he did not know of any arrangement with Israel.

The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society is one of nine major US resettlement contractors who resettle refugees for the US State Department in your cities and towns.   The US taxpayer supplies them with about half of their entire annual budget.  Their past CEO collected a salary in excess of $300,000 a year and we can assume their new one does as well.  Can it be called do-gooder-itis with a salary like that?

For new readers, we have 147 previous posts in our category ‘Israel and refugees’ here.

Maine brain drain! Reverse it with asylum seekers says developer turned spiritualist

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Richard Berman stands in front of Hope House. Berman wants to welcome asylum seekers to brain-drained Maine!

He says the City of Portland “gets it,” but the rest of Maine needs to “wake up!”

We’ve learned recently that as many as 70% of asylum claims are fraudulent, then there is the big NYT story about the Chinese frauds, and just this morning we learned of a large asylum fraud bust in Maryland, but if Mainers, like Richard Berman, want to lure them to Portland with free housing (welfare) until their claims are processed, Maine can have them if they promise to keep them!

Here is the story from the Bangor Daily News. Hat tip: Joanne.  Head honchos from the US State Department were in Maine last week for a PR tour.

PORTLAND, Maine — From home to school to work, the lives of refugees and asylum seekers received closer looks from federal and city officials this week.

On Friday, Feb. 21, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard visited Portland Adult Education and several local businesses to see how refugees and resettlement agencies are faring. Richard was accompanied by Lawrence Bartlett, state department director of refugee admissions.

Asylum seekers are not eligible for welfare nationally until their claims are approved, but in Maine, as we mentioned here recently, they do get welfare support and now they get housing thanks to developer/philanthropist/spiritualist Richard Berman.

On Tuesday, Mayor Michael Brennan cut the ribbon at ceremonies marking the opening of Hope House at 14 Sherman St. The apartment house has been home to 13 Africans seeking political asylum for almost six months.

Hope House, which was bought by developer Richard Berman and operated by the nonprofit Hope Acts, solves the most basic question asylum seekers such as Hugues Ingabire, 21, face when they arrive in Portland.

Berman says that Maine doesn’t have enough brains so they need asylum seekers and refugees to make up the shortfall.

Berman said welcoming and getting asylum seekers settled is a benefit to Maine’s future.

“This is the reverse of the brain drain,” he said.

Berman:  Wake up Maine!

Publicist Jen Dimond said she wants Brennan and other Hope House visitors to see the success of the collaboration between Berman and Hope Acts because it is understood the city does not have the resources to provide the full measure of help to refugees and asylum seekers.

Berman said city officials are doing what they can, even though there are limits.

“It seems like the city gets it,” he said. ‘It is the state that needs to wake up.”

So who is Richard Berman—the brain behind the plan for Portland?

Here is an article from last September that tells you all you need to know!

PORTLAND – Richard Berman is not your typical developer

Over the last 40 years, Berman has gained a reputation as a philanthropist, as well as a developer who values community engagement, “smart growth,” historic preservation and affordable housing.

Berman is drawn to mysticism and meditation. He was born and raised Jewish, before turning to Eastern religions. He now attends St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Cape Elizabeth and serves on the Maine Council of Churches.

“Just because you’re a real estate developer doesn’t mean you’re not spiritual,” Berman quipped.

Next month, the Cape Elizabeth resident will turn 68 years old and steer a new course in his career. Berman says will “semi-retire” so he can turn more of his full-time attention to philanthropic endeavors, without having to worry about profit margins.

“I want to turn my talent and treasures to good use,” Berman said. “I’m turning my attention to more spiritual matters like immigration and homelessness.”

Do-gooder-itis?  Or something else?

For new readers, we have an extensive archive on Maine, here. Be sure to check out one of our top posts for the last few years (from 2009)—-Maine the welfare magnet—about how the US State Department and Catholic Charities helped start the migrant stampede to Maine.

Washington State Pakistanis arrested in convenience store fraud

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Pakistani, Fraz A. “Tony” Mushtaq, (now US citizen) was sending your tax dollars to Pakistan! http://www.kirotv.com/photo/news/fraz-mushtaq/p7cZ2/

They allegedly reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars through food stamp fraud, selling drugs and trafficking in stolen property, then sent money to Pakistan.

Readers, since the availability of the facebook page Diversity’s Dark Side, run-of-the-mill immigrant food stamp frauds will be posted there, but this one had a couple of juicy bits that add to our extensive archive on food stamp fraud here at RRW.

From the Herald Net (Hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’):

EVERETT — A police raid on a downtown mini-mart Tuesday morning was the culmination of a 17-month investigation into food-stamp fraud.

Fraz A. “Tony” Mushtaq, 34, the owner of the A One Smoke & Grocery store at Everett and Colby avenues, is suspected of paying people cents on the dollar for access to their state food-benefits cards.

He also is under investigation for allegedly buying and selling merchandise shoplifted from area stores, money laundering and selling an illegal form of synthetic marijuana known as “spice,” police say.

Everett police believe a significant amount of the store’s inventory has been ill-gotten, said Lt. Jim Duffy, who leads the special investigations unit.

The police department has received complaints about the store for several years, he said.

[….]

Police believe the amount of stolen merchandise moved through the store, including pop, energy drinks and cigarettes, could total in the millions of dollars. Careful financial investigation has documented hundreds of thousands of dollars in questionable transactions, Duffy (Lt. Jim Duffy) said.

The police have been investigating this case since 2012.  So, did he already have US citizenship or get it after the investigation had begun?

Mushtaq is from Pakistan and became a U.S. citizen a couple of years ago, Duffy said. Investigators believe he was sending money from his store back home to Pakistan.

And, this next bit is ludicrous!  Everett investigators claim the money was not used for any “improper activities” in Pakistan!  We are expected to believe these local investigators (or anyone else!) were able to follow the money in Pakistan!  Not to mention the fact that tax dollars from food stamp fraud going to a foreign country constitutes an “improper” activity all by itself!

They found no evidence the money was being used there for any improper activities, Duffy said.

For new readers:  Immigrant-perpetrated food stamp fraud became a side interest here at RRW in 2008, click here for our extensive archive.